Command is invalid when running test prepare command through Azure DevOps task

[rygo-msft]

Starting last week (11/7 4:00 AM EST) our AppCenterTest runs have been failing to submit from Azure DevOps.

When running in the vs2017-win2016 hosted agent image using the AppCenterTest task, the prepare step has begun failing. It does not appear to be an issue with the task as the command sent to the CLI is identical to what successful jobs were sending.

- task: AppCenterTest@1
  name: RunAppCenterTests
  displayName: 'Test with Visual Studio App Center'
  inputs:
    espressoBuildDirectory: ${{ parameters.appBuildDir }}
    appFile: ${{ parameters.appFile }}
    artifactsDirectory: AppCenterTest
    frameworkOption: espresso
    serverEndpoint: 9015e276-e51e-4284-bcf0-6b56a5517017 #MAM functional test connection
    appSlug: ${{ parameters.appCenterAppId }}
    devices: $(DeviceSelector.Devices)
    runOptions: ${{ parameters.runOptions }}

C:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /D /S /C "D:\a\_tasks\AppCenterTest_ad5cd22a-be4e-48bb-adce-181a32432da5\1.152.1\node_modules\.bin\appcenter.cmd test prepare espresso --artifacts-dir D:\a\1\s\AppCenterTest --build-dir D:\a\1\a\MAM\AppClient.Test.Functional --quiet"
Error: Command test prepare espresso --artifacts-dir D:\a\1\s\AppCenterTest --build-dir D:\a\1\a\MAM\AppClient.Test.Functional --quiet is invalid

[rygo-msft]

I am also seeing people reporting similar issues in #688

[jpc0001]

I'm seeing the same thing on a windows-2019 agent for a Xamarin UI Test

[avocaddo]

It seems that you are running a node version that is not compatible with the CLI node version.
From my tests, windows-latest is using node (v12.13.0) whereas for now CLI requires node 10.x.

You could try adding the following task before the App Center task to downgrade the agent node version:

- task: UseNode@1
  inputs:
    version: '10.15.1'

[rygo-msft]

@joabalea thank you for the workaround. Is the issue that AppCenterTest task is not setting its required Node version?
When can we expect a fix for this so that we can remove the work around?

[MouthOfMadness]

I'm seeing this error with the UITest framework as well.

[Azhimkulov]

I can't understand how to add:
- task: UseNode@1 inputs: version: '10.15.1'

Can somebody explain to me how to do this?

[avocaddo]

@rygo-msft We are working on prioritizing this and it should be shipped with the next version of the task.

[avocaddo]

@Azhimkulov This should be a task for your AzureDevOps pipeline. If you are using .yaml file, you can just copy past it before the App Center test task (- task: AppCenterTest@1 ... ). If you are using the UI pipeline view, you should be able to search for a task called Use Node.js ecosystem and set it to 10.15.1 (also before your App Center test task):

[svaldetero]

@rygo-msft We are working on prioritizing this and it should be shipped with the next version of the task.

It's been almost a year, has this been fixed?

[danwaters]

Still broken for me too. By the way, the "use node" extension no longer shows up in search at the time of this posting; you need to search for Node.js tool installer

[MouthOfMadness]

I've got mine working in the release pipeline (and I have one working in yaml file), but I'm going to post mine as the release pipeline.

This is what my pipeline looks like, the difference in the way this used to work and the way I have it working, is you now have to run the task twice, once to prepare the test, then to run the test.

I came to believe (without proof) that the prepare test generates the manifest file used by the test as this always seemed to be my point of failure (in this folder $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/AppCenterTest).

This is what the yaml looks like for each task in the release pipeline (paths, tools, test-assembly are all relative to your project):

steps:

• task: UseNode@1
  displayName: 'Use Node 10.15.1'
  inputs:
  version: 10.15.1

• task: AppCenterTest@1
  displayName: 'Prepare Test with Visual Studio App Center'
  inputs:
  appFile: '$(path)/andriod.apk'
  frameworkOption: uitest
  uiTestBuildDirectory: '$(path)/test-assembly'
  uiTestToolsDirectory: '$(path)/tools'
  serverEndpoint: MyAppCenterUser
  appSlug: 'mySlug'
  devices: 'myDevices'
  skipWaitingForResults: true

• task: AppCenterTest@1
  displayName: 'Test with Visual Studio App Center'
  inputs:
  appFile: '$(path)/android.apk'
  prepareTests: false
  serverEndpoint: MyAppCenterUser
  appSlug: 'mySlug'
  devices: 'myDevices'
  skipWaitingForResults: true

And a small snippet from my release pipeline: